Chapter 276 Peace Hotel
To be honest, Leshi.com has indeed suffered a lot this year.
First, it "broke up" with Arclight Films in the middle of the year, which led to a lot of controversy in public opinion.
In the second half of the year, due to the sluggish capital market, the financial pressure suddenly increased, and the acquisition of Leshi Pictures suddenly became difficult.
This is just an external factor. Leshi.com also has many problems internally.
On the one hand, Boss Jia is obsessed with making cars and consumes a lot of funds. On the other hand, the film and television business that provides blood for the group has frequently exploded.
Needless to say, with the departure of Arclight Films, the quality of Leshi.com's self-made dramas instantly fell to second-rate level.
The "Crown Princess" team, which was previously highly expected, had to give up because the new project "The General Is Above" had too much investment.
The film business is also bleak. "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" is still a small profit because it has a guaranteed release.
But "Lord of the Rings" released last month was a bit miserable. It cost 200 million yuan and the box office was 360 million yuan, with a blood loss of nearly 300 million yuan.
Guo Xiaosi failed to replicate the fan economy of the "Tiny Times" series, and collapsed to the point of shouting at the roadshow, "Are you people who curse only satisfied if I die?"
Now the only hope that Leshi Pictures can pin on is that "The Great Wall" to be released at the end of the year can turn the tide.
"In fact, if Boss Jia can give up the smart car business and find a buyer, it should be able to recover." Meng Bai sighed as he watched the news.
"No hope, Leshi has so many messed up business sectors over the years, and the top management has mentioned it more than a hundred times. Look who gave up in the end."
Liu Jun snorted and shook his head: "Based on my understanding over the years, it should not be difficult for Boss Jia to find a buyer, but the fundamental problem will definitely not be solved. In the end, it's nothing more than a few more days of slow death."
As an old man who has worked at Leshi.com for many years, he obviously knows his former boss's personality better.
Meng Bai laughed: "Okay, then wait and see who this sucker is."
Liu Jun also laughed, and it was obvious that no matter who it was, they couldn't help but want to have fun.
"By the way, what do you want to talk to me about today? Has the filming at Blue Island been completed?"
"Day and Night has been completed, and Crime of the Mind 2 should be filmed until the end of the year." Meng Bai said, "I came here to discuss with you the project arrangements for Arclight next year."
"Speaking of this, I was just thinking of looking for you." Liu Jun said, "Now Arclight has a lot of fans and viewers. I think it would be best to release the planned film list for the year at the beginning of each year. This will facilitate scheduling, and secondly, it can also warm up in advance and enhance publicity."
Before Liu Jun came, the overall management style of Arclight Film and Television was the same as the boss Meng Bai, focusing on a casual style.
Whether it was the establishment of a new drama project or foreign investment, he basically did it if he thought it was good.
Chen Jing had no problem with internal affairs, but he was weak in terms of content, so he couldn't control him.
But with Liu Jun joining Arclight for more than half a year, not only is there someone responsible for daily operations, but the overall structure has also been much more regular.
In layman's terms, Arclight Film and Television finally looks like a serious company.
So Meng Bai has always attached great importance to Liu Jun's suggestions.
After thinking about it, he agreed directly to the annual film list preview, except that the scheduling would be more troublesome.
"Let's set the time before the Spring Festival every year, so that it will be fixed."
"Then I will discuss with the project department and set a preliminary schedule and show it to you."
"Okay." Meng Bai responded and turned the topic to today's business. "I have an idea recently. Should we try to make a TV series?"
"TV series?"
Liu Jun was stunned, but he was not too surprised.
As the leading team in the current online drama market, Arclight Film and Television has almost entered a bottleneck period.
If it wants to continue to expand, it must either open up new themes horizontally or wait for the expansion of the entire market scale.
Arclight has been doing the former, such as investing in Xiaotangren Culture to increase the field of youth idols.
Recently, it has also been discussing with Huace Film and Television to create a new "Huaguang Studio" to try to make ancient puppet dramas.
These two are evergreens of popular film and television themes. There is no need to worry about censorship. It is also easy to sell on the platform and it is easy to promote actors, which is much better than suspense.
As for the market size, this is not due to Arclight's own efforts, but mainly depends on the investment of various investors.
And because of Meng Bai's previous series of cooperation with Ruyi Film, Arclight has more or less made a breakthrough in the film industry.
The only thing left to touch is TV series.
Although the TV series market has declined somewhat due to competition from online dramas in recent years, the basic market is still very stable.
Being able to be broadcast on satellite TV, or broadcast on both TV and the Internet, is still worth bragging about for online dramas.
However...
"The TV drama market has been developing for so many years, and various old forces are intertwined and complicated. The water inside is much deeper than that of online dramas." Liu Jun reminded.
"I know, but we have to try it." Meng Bai smiled, "Besides, we are not newcomers who have no confidence at all, so we can take it slowly."
"As long as you are mentally prepared." Liu Jun smiled and said, "What subject do you plan to do? Continue suspense or criminal investigation?"
"The censorship of TV dramas is too strict. A criminal investigation script is not enough for them to revise." Meng Bai shook his head and continued, "I plan to start with the theme of spy war."
"Spy war?"
Liu Jun thought about it, and then his eyes lit up.
Don't say it, for Arc Light Film and Television, this is really the most suitable subject.
First of all, spy war is still in the field of suspense, and Arc Light's team will not have style conflicts.
Secondly, as one of the classic subjects, as long as the story is controlled before 1949, there will be basically no problems in the review.
What's more, spy war themes have been very popular in the past two years, and "The Disguiser", which triggered the trend, was also written by Meng Bai.
So Arc Light started with spy war dramas, which can be regarded as "the right time, the right place, and the right people".
"Since you came to me to talk about it, I guess you have an idea about the project in your mind." Liu Jun said: "What is it like, similar to "The Disguiser"? "
"Not quite the same, there are too many similar spy war dramas in the past two years, I plan to do something new in the form." Meng Bai said.
"How do you say it?"
"Have you heard of escape room?"
Meng Bai saw Liu Jun shaking his head and explained: "It's probably about a group of people being trapped in a confined space, and then trying to escape. I want to shoot such a story this time."
Liu Jun pondered and nodded, as if he had never seen this form of spy war drama.
"What do you plan to call it?"
"I have tentatively decided to call it "Peace Hotel."
Liu Jun asked: "The one in Shanghai?"
"No. For so many years, spy war dramas have either been in Shanghai, Shancheng, or Jinling. I plan to go north." Meng Bai said.
"Tianjin?"
"To BJ North?"
"Beijing North is the north... OK, it's also north of Tianjin." Meng Bai said, "But we have to go further north."
"Then it can only be the Northeast."
"Snap!"
Meng Bai snapped his fingers, "That's right, the Northeast, the Ice City Harbin."
Liu Jun took a deep breath, OK, this stick went straight to the northernmost.
A little further north, we have to shoot the KGB.
Meng Bai continued, "The regional atmosphere in the Northeast is very strong, I plan to follow the style of light comedy. Including the leading actors, try to choose people from the Northeast."
"Don't worry about it, it's not easy to find actors from other places in the circle, but there are plenty of actors from the Northeast."
This is the truth, because of the natural personality and early economic development, there are many artists and actors from the Northeast.
"When do you plan to shoot?" Liu Jun asked.
Meng Bai calculated the time: "If we start preparing now, it will be around the Spring Festival next year, mainly because the scene will take a long time."
"By the way, speaking of the scene, I just wanted to ask, is there a Peace Hotel in Harbin?"
"No." Meng Bai shook his head and smiled, "So we have to build one."
(End of this chapter)
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